Aviation_69

Hamburg, Germany - April 17, 2018: Beluga Airbus A300-600ST Number 2 landing at the Airbus Plant in Hamburg Finkenwerder

The Airbus Beluga, one of the world’s strangest airplanes, now has its own airline.

The odd-looking, oversized cargo plane — a favorite among planespotters around the world — has been in service for close to two decades. It mainly transports aircraft parts between Airbus’ manufacturing facilities spread throughout Europe.

Now, a new version of the Beluga is replacing the original fleet, which has gone on to power a standalone freight airline called Airbus Beluga Transport.

“There are very few options on the market for oversize items,” says Benoît Lemonnier, head of Airbus Beluga Transport. “Most often there’s a need to partially dismantle a payload to make it fit in an aircraft — whereas in the Beluga, it will just fit.”